With negotiations for a proposed Unified Police Department at a standstill, Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said Tuesday he has a solution to county policing that doesn't include starting a countywide department.

Instead, he says he can keep contract city leaders happy by giving them what they thought the UPD proposal would give them: local control.

A new Law Enforcement Administrative Control Board will oversee the sheriff's office's budget, personnel and procedural issues and also give strong input on operations, Winder said. The mayors of the five contract cities will serve on the board, along with County Mayor Peter Corroon and two members of the Salt Lake County Council.

Winder said he wasn't concerned at the fact that the board will, in essence, strip away much of his administrative powers.

"It puts me in the place I want to be, and that is to run operationally the sheriff's office," Winder said. "It takes me out of the political discussion that I don't really want to be in."

State law allows Winder to delegate his statutory duties to the board, but ultimately if he changes his mind and wants that power back, the board won't really have the control Winder promised.

Also, current statute gives the County Council final say on budgetary matters, so if the council disagrees with the board's decision on budgets, it can override any move the board makes.

The fact that there is no actual legislation giving the board any authority makes County Council Chairman Mark Crockett uncomfortable.

"This is a good-faith step in the right direction," Crockett said. "I hope it works."

The idea of starting a countywide police department came after Taylorsville and Draper stopped contracting with the sheriff's office for police services and instead started their own respective police forces.

Negotiations with the remaining contract cities dragged on for 18 months but came to a standstill in March. While leaders wouldn't say the idea of UPD was dead, they decided to stop meeting as a UPD board.

The last thing county leaders want is 16 individual police agencies across the valley. The new Law Enforcement Administrative Control Board is the latest idea to avoid that.

"If they don't get local control, they're going to leave," Crockett said. "This is the sheriff's good-faith effort with his customers to give them what they want. I believe he's going to try to do that."

Winder said the new administrative control board will increase cooperation among the contract cities.

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